'No Tolerance' policy for Richmond County deputies

Thursday, March 21, 2019
News 12 at 6 o'clock/NBC at 7
RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- New policies are coming for Richmond County after five deputies were arrested in the same month.
This new policy is a two-prong approach. They want to save deputies who they believe show signs of needing help and restoring the public trust they feel took a big hit.
“You have to remember that frequently for us. We spend days weeks and years building up the public's confidence," said Chief Clayton, with the Richmond County Sheriffs Office.
"They hit my car on the side of the street and hit another car that was parked in front of me," said a 911 caller.
"And things like this, they can totally erode it in a matter of minutes," said Clayton.
A woman placed a 911 call after seeing an intoxicated off-duty deputy hit her car in downtown Augusta on Broad Street.
Back in November, Adam Wade was the fifth Richmond County deputy to be arrested within 30 days of each other.
This was a blow that pushed the department to make a significant change to their policy.
“Over the last five or ten years people were given second chances, in regards to alcohol-related incidents like we've experienced recently, and we just had to take a stance and say we're just not going to. The sheriff is pretty much taking as far as that goes under a zero tolerance type attitude about it," said Clayton.
The new RCSO policy says employees cannot drink 8 hours prior to a shift and must, report any arrest to a supervisor within 24 hours of their release. A worker deemed to be the aggressor will be terminated at the discretion of the sheriff.
The sheriff’s office is also trying to identify problems sooner. As a part of the new policy, the office will try to hire a police psychologist.
"We'd like to have it so a deputy at least twice a year is having a counseling session. The deputies are obviously hurting themselves and it hurts the agency," said Clayton.
Another interesting part of this policy is that no person who self-identifies a problem with alcohol or drugs and seeks assistance will be punished. It also won't be a record in their personnel file.







